2014 World Series Matchup Full of Intrigue

The 2014 MLB World Series matchup is set and the story lines for this year’s Fall Classic are endless. 2014 marks the 110th edition of Major League Baseball’s championship series and pits two teams with drastically different histories against each other. The San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals have been absolutely dominant since the start of October with the two clubs combining for just 2 losses so far in the 2014 MLB Postseason.

The 2014 World Series by the numbers:

Kansas City Royals

The Royals have won 8 postseason games in a row, that is the most consecutive postseason wins by a team in a single postseason in MLB history.

Kansas City last played in a World Series game in 1985, giving the Royals fans 29 years of anticipation for the 2014 World Series

The biggest reason the Kansas City Royals have made it to the World Series has got to be the play of their bullpen. There were questions coming into the postseason as to whether or not Kansas City’s relievers could play well enough to help put the team over the top. Lets just say those questions have been put to rest as the unit boasts a .96 ERA collectively since the start of the ALDS.

San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants have made 20 World Series appearance in the history of their franchise. San Francisco’s appearance in the 2014 World Series pushes the Giants past the St. Louis Cardinals for 2nd on the all-time World Series appearances list.

In the past 5 seasons the Giants have qualified for 3 World Series. The first 2 (2010, 2012) trips to the Fall Classic ended in titles for San Francisco.

San Francisco’s ace Madison Bumgarner has given up a total of 5 earned runs in 4 postseason starts, including a complete game shutout against the Pittsburgh pirates in the NL Wild Card Series.

2014 World Series Preview

The San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals may have had drastically different histories, but the two teams have found success in 2014 in very similar ways. Both rely heavily on pitching and defense. The Giants probably have an edge in the starting pitching category, while the Royals bullpen has been untouchable. The Royals and Giants pitching has been helped by a pair of all-star catchers in Buster Posey and Salvador Perez. Aggressive base running and small ball were big parts of the Giants and Royals league championship victories, but running will likely be tough against these two top tier catchers.

The Giant and Royals met 3 times in the regular season, with Kansas City sweeping the series at Kauffman Stadium. That regular season series is long forgotten as both teams enter the World Series playing at their absolute peaks. Chances are that the 2014 World Series will see playoff pitching at its very best and both teams will put a premium on scoring early in games. Whether the upstart Royals or the stalwart Giants win the 2014 World Series is yet to be seen, but if the matchup is any indication, the fight for baseballs crown will be one of the ages.

2014 World Series Schedule with median ticket prices:The 29 years of waiting has pushed up ticket prices for games in Kansas City to over $850, while the median ticket price for the games in San Francisco are between $550-$600